“Don’t whatever me, honey,” Miranda said and picked up her Bluetooth, shoving it around her ear. “Call Brent Westmore,” she ordered and her car stereo began to ring.
“’Lo?” Brent. Sweet Brent. Always sounded like he’d woken up from a hangover.
“Brent,” she said, her voice curt, all business. “It’s time to act. I’m tired of waiting for you to make up your mind. Are you in or out?”
A brief silence from Brent before he said, begrudgingly, “Jacob is my Alpha—”
“And your brother,” Miranda interrupted. “Don’t you owe it to your brother to take care of him? Even if that means taking his crown?” She made a sharp turn with her BMW, taking over the road and getting a curt honk from behind. She flipped them the finger. “If he stays Alpha, he’s going to turn one day and never turn back. You know it. I know it. If you want to help your brother, you’ll do exactly as I say.”
Another hesitation from him. His long pauses made her impatience burn. He had been more malleable the other night, with her lips around his cock, but now in the sober light of day he was questioning all of his bad decisions. Typical man.
“What d’you want, Miranda?” he finally said, stonily.
Compliance was good, even if he wasn’t happy about it. “Drive him up the Siskiyou Mountain. We’ll meet you halfway up.”
“You ain’t gonna hurt him, are you?”
“I just want to talk to him,” Miranda lied.
“On the mountain?”
“We need privacy,” she said. “Do you want to help him or don’t you?”
Another infuriating languid pause from him before, “We’ll be there.”
“Six o’clock. Don’t be late.” With that, she clicked a button on her steering wheel and hung up the phone. She glanced over at her son—quietly brooding in the passenger seat—and said, “How would you like to play a little game of cat-and-bear tonight?”
Finally, Cayden smiled. Children are so hard to please, Miranda thought as she turned down the road.
Chapter 36
Brent was met with a dial tone when Miranda cut the call short. He swore under his breath and pulled the phone away from his ear.
“Everything alright?” Brent glanced up quickly and saw Jacob standing at the other end of the truck.
Brent nodded and swallowed back his guilt. He glanced down at his phone and tucked it away. “Yeah. Just the usual. Needy bitches who want what they want when they want it.”
Jacob chuckled and yanked himself into the driver’s seat. “You need to find yourself an honest woman,” Jacob said. “Does wonders for the sanity.”
“See, that’s where you’re wrong, boss,” Brent said. “Respectfully, I think it’d make me fucking crazy.” Brent looked over at Jacob as he revved up the engine. “I’m guessing all’s well in paradise with you two lovebirds.”
“Yeah. It’s great, actually.”
Brent asked cautiously, “And the bear?”
Jacob shrugged. “Never better.” But Brent could read the tight-jawed lie in his brother’s face.
Goddammit, Jacob. If the other man weren’t so damn proud, maybe they could’ve actually solved this civilly. “Where to?” Jacob asked.
Any hesitation left Brent’s voice. “We got a job up the mountain. Folks complaining about a leaky roof. Y’wanna check it out?”
“Mountain, huh?” Jacob looked down at his watch.
“Y’got somewhere to be?”
Jacob hesitated, then shook his head. “Let’s just make this quick. I wanna get home before nightfall.”
That’s the idea, Brent thought to himself, but said instead, “You got it, boss.” Jacob put the truck into gear, taking off towards the mountain looming ahead of them.
Chapter 37
It was slow going up the mountain and the roads twisted in a serpentine pattern up the curves of Siskiyou. Jacob had climbed these mountains plenty of times, but rarely for a job. The mountain was covered in acres and acres of red firs and bubbling creeks and it was the perfect place to let the Beast loose without worrying about any collateral damage. Of course, that was back in the day when Jacob could let the Beast run free whenever he wanted. Before he had to keep it locked up inside of him, terrified that any transformation could be his last.
He hadn’t let his Beast out in months. Not since it had burst from his skin in a fit the night Holly turned down his proposal. He was going for a personal record, three months since his last bear outing. Out here, the woods beckoned louder than usual. Familiar haunts chimed in his ears like church bells, warming his blood.